


Ghost in the Machine

by cometdragon96



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Pyrrha Nikos Lives, Slow Burn, Sort Of, so does Penny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 13:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16703704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cometdragon96/pseuds/cometdragon96
Summary: Pyrrha was ready to face the end the moment she sent Jaune flying to safety. What she wasn't ready for was what destiny had in store for her after her death. The forces of darkness still look to conquer Remnant, and Pyrrha finds herself still among the living though not truly alive herself.





	Ghost in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Hey party people this is a rewrite and posting of an old idea I had back on fanfiction.net. I've been out of the RWBY fandom for a bit now, but volume 6 dragged me back in. Hope ya'll in enjoy it I don't see much Pyrrha and Penny fics out there, so I'm doing my spin on things because this ship is adorable to me. Also I'm throwing a lot of my own headcanons in this about Pyrrha and Penny's backstories before the start of the show, anyway hope ya' guys like it!

* * *

 

They said when one died their life flashed before their eyes. Pyrrha felt the arrow Cinder fired pierce her chest. It burned hot like molten metal. Cinder was walking up to her, Pyrrha’s ears rang. The roars of the Grimm and cries of people below were mere, small notes as Beacon fell apart around them. The burning in her chest spread white, hot pain that made Pyrrha pause in her breaths. It was too painful for her lungs to move and take in air.

This is never how she thought it’d end. She remembered a simpler time. Before she ever picked up a sword or even truly understood what the Grimm were.

She remembered the humid airs of Mistral’s swamps where her family had roamed. As the white pain turned cold, Pyrrha thought of her parents.

A memory of sitting on her father’s lap as they watched his herd of sheep. Her father would let her hold his staff: a long, hand carved shepherd's crook. At that time, Pyrrha didn’t even reach half its height.

She wanted to cry.

Cinder was right up in her face now. The world felt like it was melting away and Pyrrha’s mind went to her mother.

A towering woman with brilliant crimson hair, that always carried a golden spear standing tall, protecting everyone in their tribe.

She didn’t want Pyrrha to leave them.

Pyrrha remembered how her mother told her it was foolish to pursue a life in the kingdoms. That they were all foolish building towering beacons for the Grimm to come and destroy.

As the cold spread from her chest, the last thing Pyrrha heard was a scream to rival the ringing in her ears. She couldn’t recognize the voice.

Everything went white.

* * *

 

When Pyrrha finally started becoming aware of the world again it was cold. Very, very cold. Dark and numb, Pyrrha tried to force herself to some form of awakening. She was acutely aware of how numb she felt. There was no pain, no soreness. Focusing was a challenge. Pyrrha wondered if this was death: nothing but endless darkness and a lack of feeling.

She couldn’t be dead though, Pyrrha still felt her aura. Weak and raw, fraying around the edges, but somehow still present. She couldn’t move though, or if she could, she couldn’t feel it.

There was a humming noise of gears and the motor of a computer. It reverberated in Pyrrha’s ears, sounding like it was coming from within her. Then all at once, the world snapped into focus. Pyrrha looked up above at the light flickering above her. She wanted to blink and shut her eyes, but it was like her eyelids were nonexistent. Even more shocking, as if she was wearing a helmet with a visor on, text sprung into her vision. White lettering contrasting greatly to the dark ceiling above her read:

“ **_System reboot in progress… Atlesian Knight Model 200B startup sequence initiated… Please Stand by… Error… Unknown script detected… Error… Heavy damage logged… Priority shift… Error… Unknown energy merging with system… Error…”_ **

The text was disorienting and Pyrrha tried turning her head to make it go away in a vain hope that maybe she was hallucinating. The text disappeared after a moment. Turning her head to the left, she caught sight of her arm. It was wrong though. It wasn’t her arm, yet it was connected to her. A white metal limb was scorched, burnt at the arm, and a couple wires stuck out around the wrist. Experimentally, Pyrrha tried to move the fingers and watched in growing horror as they moved according to what she wanted.

Fear mounting, Pyrrha also came to notice she couldn’t feel herself breathe. She felt nothing as she focused her mind, trying to think about the action. But, there was nothing there, as if she didn’t have any lungs. Bringing the metal hand closer to her face, she touched it, feeling nothing but hearing a metal ‘ _tink!_ ’ of metal touching glass. The text came springing back into the center of her vision, demanding attention:

“ **_System reboot finished._ ** **_”_ **

Again, Pyrrha shook her head trying to get rid of it. The text disappeared and Pyrrha ever so slowly sat up. She heard the creaking of metal, fear and horror only continued to build as she looked down at herself.

She recognized the robotic body as one of Atlas’ Atlesian Knight robots. General Ironwood had brought a whole army’s worth of them to defend the tournament. Thanks to… those monsters… though, the machines had turned against them. Shaking her head, Pyrrha tried to will herself to wake up from what surely must be a nightmare.

Nothing happened though, she couldn’t even blink, couldn’t cry out. The robot must not of had a voice of any kind, because Pyrrha couldn’t make any sounds. There was a clicking noise as the robot body shuddered. Mind whirling, Pyrrha looked around. It looked like she was in one of the hallways of the Amity Colosseum.

There was another fallen knight mech next to Pyrrha. Its body was riddled with bullet holes and slash marks from some kind of weapon. Looking down at the body that Pyrrha found herself in, it too was in similar shape. Large gashes tore pieces of the dirty white armor in two. Looking to the one leg, more wires were twisting out of the joints, sparking. The limb was even twisted at an odd angle, but Pyrrha felt no pain.

Reaching down, Pyrrha grabbed the limb, and with only the slightest hesitation, twisted it back into place. Again, there was no pain, only the sound of the metal clicking back into a normal position.

Getting up, Pyrrha tried to slowly make sense of things. She was still alive. Maybe. She remembered being on the tower, fighting Cinder, sending Jaune to safety. After that: pain from the arrow, then nothing. Looking down at what was now her body, Pyrrha shuddered again.

What was this? Was it punishment from the gods? She had murdered that girl, Penny, Pyrrha remembered. She collapsed to one knee just thinking about what she did to that girl. She ripped her to pieces. She murdered an innocent person. The sound of Penny’s limbs being ripped apart rung in Pyrrha’s ears. Images of the shock in her face as Pyrrha had sent a wave of magnetic force at her flooded her mind.

She didn’t need to hear the sound of the clicking metal to know she was shaking. If this robotic body had lungs or a heart they would be shuddering and gasping for air. To Pyrrha’s growing panic she didn’t have either, though.

Looking down at herself again, Pyrrha felt that surely this was punishment. Punishment for hurting Penny, for trying to take the Fall Maiden’s aura. Looking down at her hands, they shook, and Pyrrha’s vision glitched like a computer screen. Falling to her other knee, Pyrrha collapsed, shaking all over. If she had eyes, she’d cry, but all she could do was internally sob at everything that had happened.

Pyrrha wasn’t sure how long she was collapsed there, but eventually the white text returned, flashing in the forefront of her vision:

“ **_Priority shift… Objective found. Retrieve: Synth-Human Model-M374._ ** **_”_ **

Pyrrha had no idea what the text was talking about but it was enough to get her to lift her head from the ground in sorrow. More images flashed up in her vision. A flashing white arrow pointing her in the direction down the hall. Numbly, Pyrrha stood, only to nearly fall down again as sparks rattled her one damaged leg. Using the wall as support, Pyrrha followed in the direction the waypoint led her. Her mind a blank state, only following the arrow, because there was nothing else.

Limping down the hall, Pyrrha froze for a moment. This hall was leading back into the battlefield of the arena. She could see the end of the hall opening up into the giant field. Even from here, she could still see the debris that littered the field from when the Grimm attacked.

Pyrrha stood frozen for a moment before her feet started moving again. Limping out towards the field, following the arrow. She could stop, she should stop. There was nothing out there for her, but what else was there?

The arena was much how it was the last time Pyrrha saw it, except now it looked like the power had gone out. The stadium was dark. Only the glowing moon above cast a dim glow through the broken roof.

The waypoint Pyrrha’s robotic body was making for her led over to one side of the field. Again, Pyrrha froze, finally seeing what she was being led to. There was a mop of bright orange hair and several mangled limbs but Pyrrha would never forget the sight. Limping over to the pile of limbs that was Penny, Pyrrha fell to her knees both out grief and disgust for herself and because the damaged mechanical leg failing badly.

Pyrrha couldn’t even bear to look at Penny’s body, instead looking down at her shaking hands. This was surely punishment Pyrrha affirmed in her mind. Taking the smallest of glances at Penny’s body, it was clear Penny wasn’t human. Steel and machinery made up her body, but did it really matter in the end? Team RWBY had mentioned the quirky girl a couple of times at lunch and their description wasn’t that of a soulless machine.

Pyrrha had killed her.

Head falling down again, Pyrrha sat there holding her head in her hands. It wasn’t until the text popped back into her vision again that she moved again:

“ **_Retrieve Synth Human Model-M374._ ** **_”_ **

Pyrrha stared at the text for a moment before it disappeared and Pyrrha heard a click. Looking up, Penny’s head and upper torso was facing down, but there was something glinting in the faint moonlight. It looked like a computer chip had popped out of a slot at the base of Penny’s neck. Shaking, Pyrrha rose, standing, she ever so gently grabbed the chip. It was small, fragile, not even taking up the whole of Pyrrha’s hand. Falling back to her knees, Pyrrha held the chip. Her aura frayed as it was warmed inside her metal body, almost like it could feel another’s aura coming off the chip.

“ **_Synth Human Model-M374 retrieved. Return to base._ ** **_”_ **

Pyrrha ignored the text that popped up in her vision and stared at the chip in her hand. She heard stories of Atlas making synthetic people with auras, but most pushed the idea as fantasy. How could anyone create a soul? It was that kind of thinking that created people like Cinder who thought they could have power to rival gods.

Pyrrha wasn’t sure what she should do, she wasn’t even fully convinced any of this was real. Glancing at Penny’s body where the chip had popped out, Pyrrha reached behind her own head. At the base of the mech’s skull was a similar slot. Looking at the chip in her hand again, perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her, trying to feel sensations that didn’t happen anymore. It almost radiated warmth, almost like aura.

Taking the chip, not even really thinking about what could happen, Pyrrha slipped it into the slot at the back of her new machine body’s head. There was a click as the chip slipped inside, and then Pyrrha jerked as a flood of warmth invaded around her aura. It was another aura, not her own, and Pyrrha’s own frayed aura jerked within, trying to avoid it. The only time Pyrrha had ever come into contact with someone else’s aura was when she unlocked Jaune’s for him. This was different though, she had felt Jaune’s aura then, but they were still separate.

This aura was inside the machine body with her. Pyrrha could feel it, the only sensation available to her. The invading aura seemed to quickly catch on to Pyrrha’s torment, and she felt the aura cease spreading around the body. Instead, it moved, centering at the base of the machine’s skull where the chip was at. It was like they… or she… this had to be Penny’s aura… it was giving Pyrrha space.

Despite the foreign aura so close, Pyrrha managed to notice her vision glitching again. It settled after a moment and text spawned again in front of her. This time though, it was a bright neon green color.

“ _Salutations! I apologize for trying to take motor control from you! I will be honest, I’m not sure what’s going on_ _.”_

Could this be Penny? Pyrrha’s first thought was that it couldn’t be. The text disappeared and another sentence appeared.

“ _If you’ll allow it, may I try something to allow proper communications? Else this conversation will be awfully one sided._ _”_

The text was gone and there was a pause as if they were waiting for an answer. Pyrrha felt the invading aura shift but still stay cornered near her skull, away from Pyrrha’s own aura.

“ _I apologize again! Nod if yes…_ _”_

Pyrrha numbly nodded.

The aura within her moved again and Pyrrha’s own aura flinched away as it came close. Pausing, the aura waited a moment as if waiting for Pyrrha’s own to calm. Then, it reached out, just shy of mingling with Pyrrha’s own aura. It didn’t touch Pyrrha and her own aura remained glued as far away as it could get while trapped in this metal form. The aura didn’t push, though, and stayed there, waiting. Distantly, Pyrrha recalled a memory from her class on aura. She remembered there were rumors and stories of people who could speak almost seemingly telepathically by creating a link between their auras. There wasn’t much known about it, but thinking about it, this may be Pyrrha’s only shot of communicating now. This machine body didn’t have a voice and Pyrrha needed to confirm this was real.

Tentatively, Pyrrha’s aura reached out, shakily taking hold of the extended aura. At once, a warmth ran through her own aura. A sense of calm that was not her own settled between them and Pyrrha took a mental breath, trying to keep her own bubbling darker thoughts away from the other aura.

“Pyrrha Nikos?”

Pyrrha flinched as the voice echoed through her aura. Light and gentle, only curiosity in tone, despite Pyrrha recognizing it. Instead of responding, Pyrrha nodded her robotic head. Penny was silent for a moment before she piped up again.

“Your aura has merged with that of an Atlesian Knight? You were quite human last I saw you! What has happened? Why is the colosseum in such disrepair?”

Pyrrha was silent, did Penny not remember what happened? Though it made sense, what Pyrrha did to her was horrific, she wouldn’t blame Penny for blocking that out. Pyrrha knew she should answer Penny’s questions, but the only words that could come from her in their shallow aura link were:

“I’m sorry,” Penny’s aura shifted at that. Pyrrha didn’t sense any anger or rage coming off her though. She prepared for it though, it was well deserved in her mind.

“I’m sorry? For what? Oh are you referring to my destroyed body? Don’t worry about that! You’d be surprised how often I’m in need of repairs!”

“Repairs!? I murdered you!” Pyrrha cried out through her aura. The outburst caused Penny’s aura to flinch, moving away from Pyrrha’s, almost cowering away from Pyrrha’s aura that burned inside the robot’s body, sorrow and anger at everything coming off in waves.

“Well… not really. I’m not human, Miss Nikos. Everything I am is on the chip you inserted into… well… I guess it’s your body now.” Penny’s voice was small, very tentative, as if she was afraid of Pyrrha’s aura. Pyrrha tried to reign in her own emotions enough to understand what was happening. Instinctively, Pyrrha reached back and touched the slot where the chip was inserted.

“You’re a machine, a robot.” It wasn’t a question, but still, Penny’s aura was small keeping away from Pyrrha’s own.

“Yes. I was created by the Schnee Science Division fifth sector, so don’t feel guilty over destroying my body! Really! My father and the others back in Atlas can, oh what was that expression I heard Ruby use… right as rain! They can fix me up right as rain easily!” Penny spoke quickly, her aura shifting anxiously in their shared body. Before Pyrrha could respond though, there was a loud crashing sound and the whole colosseum began to shift. It was a good thing Pyrrha had already been seated on the ground because it shook and Pyrrha’s body moved as air started rushing through the battlefield.

The colosseum was falling, Pyrrha quickly realized. The moving, floating colosseum had been a massive feat of engineering, but it appeared it was abandoned. Now with no one to operate it, the colosseum was going to go crashing into the ground.

“We have to get out of here!” Pyrrha spoke through their aura link, getting up only to fall again. Looking down, her damaged leg was sparking again, the limb barely moving to Pyrrha’s command. The main column that made up the leg was barely holding it together. Thinking quickly, Pyrrha saw several of Penny’s swords laying around. Focusing, Pyrrha used her semblance to move the blades and two came flying at her, moving in air, magnetising themselves to the leg. Standing again, the swords created enough support to act as a crutch to the damaged leg.

The colosseum screeched as the whole building began to shift in the air. Pyrrha stumbled, keeping her bearings as the colosseum started picking up momentum. Rushing as fast as her limping gate could take her, Pyrrha rushed out of the battlefield. Going down the same hall she came in, Pyrrha rushed past the destroyed mech she saw earlier. The whole colosseum continued to screech and shake as it began barrelling towards the earth.

Making it outside to where the ferries once brought people up to the colosseum, Pyrrha stumbled again onto all fours, trying to keep hold and not fall. Air was pushing her body, and Pyrrha could finally see what was before them. She could see Beacon in the distance. The campus was dark, Beacon Tower was cloaked in the shadowy forms of Grimm. The city of Vale itself was also mostly dark, but Pyrrha could also see smoke rising from several spots.

The colosseum was falling faster, wind buffeted Pyrrha as the colosseum headed towards the Emerald Forest below it.

“There’s an air bus approximately twenty meters from us to the left.” Despite the sound of the wind, Penny’s voice came clear in Pyrrha’s mind. Looking over, Pyrrha saw what Penny was talking about. The air bus was slowly sliding across the colosseum. It looked beat up, most likely having crashed into here. However it was their only shot. Moving as fast as she could, Pyrrha got to the air bus using her semblance to force the door open. Inside, Pyrrha hurried to the cockpit only to freeze at the sight inside.

A corpse was sitting in the pilot’s seat, blood soaked the seat and the quill of what looked like a nevermore spine was jutting out of the man’s chest. Pyrrha heard Penny gasp through their bond, and her aura trembled. The air bus jerking reminded Pyrrha that they couldn’t delay.

Limping over, Pyrrha moved the body out of the seat laying them in the co-pilot seat. Looking at the controls before her, Pyrrha quickly realized she was way out of her depth her. She didn’t even know how to drive a car let alone something this complex.

“Just put your hand on the main control console.” Penny said hurryingly, Pyrrha didn’t hesitate as the bus jerked again as the colosseum continued to plummet to the ground. Placing her hand on the computer, Pyrrha felt Penny’s aura move down her arm, extending outwards. The lights of the air bus snapped on, and Pyrrha heard the motor spring to life. The various controls of the air bus beeped and clicked as if some unseen hand was using them. This must be Penny’s semblance, Pyrrha quickly realized, but there wasn’t any time to ponder it more.

The air bus gave a jerk as it started moving, Pyrrha watched through the windshield as the bus turned, heading out of the colosseum. She kept her hand on the controls, as she still felt Penny’s aura down her arm and hand influencing the machine.

They cleared the colosseum, Pyrrha couldn’t move with her hand still on the controls to see how much distance they were making away from the falling colosseum. Penny’s aura was shuddering through their link, and Pyrrha was about to say something when a loud bang caused the ship to start taking a downward tip towards the ground.

Moving as much she could to look out the window Pyrrha saw smoke rising from one of the bus’s turbines. The ship started pitching downward, only to pull up slightly as Penny tried to keep the ship upright. The ground was fast approaching though, and Pyrrha used her other hand to grab hold of the controls to brace herself.

She went flying, slamming against the windshield that cracked, but somehow held. Pyrrha went tumbling back onto the floor as the whole air bus went slamming into the ground. The sound of trees crashing and snapping in its wake.

Eventually the air bus came to a stop, and Pyrrha grabbed hold of the pilot’s seat to hoist herself back up. Looking herself over she didn’t appear any worse for wear, rubbing her head. Perhaps it was a good thing she couldn’t feel anything. Feeling inwardly, Pyrrha found Penny’s aura was curled up at the base of her skull where it had originally hunkered down in.

“Penny?” Pyrrha called out through their auras gently. Penny’s aura shifted slightly, but Penny’s voice did speak out sounding slightly strained.

“I’m okay! Just operating at less than optimal capabilities, I did not calculate how much energy using my semblance would take to operate the air bus.” Penny’s aura almost let out an exhausted huff, and Pyrrha relaxed the slightest bit knowing at least she didn’t get Penny killed a second time. Limping out of the downed air bus, Pyrrha managed to stumble out into the familiar landscape that was the Emerald Forest. Over head, she could see the massive colosseum still making its downward fall a fair distance away.

“We should keep moving, I’d rather not get caught up in the fallout of that.” Pyrrha said, limping away from the air bus.

“Agreed. Though now that we are out of immediate danger, would you mind informing me of what I’ve missed?”

If Pyrrha could, she would have sighed, she’d rather not think about what happened. However, if anything, Penny deserved to know what happened after she murdered her. So as Pyrrha limped through the forest she told Penny what happened after she was destroyed by Pyrrha’s hand, how the Grimm attacked and took over Beacon, she glossed over the Fall Maiden and what Professor Ozpin had asked of her. Instead, telling Penny she only happened upon Cinder and fought her, only to be defeated on top of Beacon Tower. Once Pyrrha was done, she brought a hand over her chest where the arrow had pierced her heart.

“I don’t understand, what’s happened to me…” Pyrrha’s voice echoed through their auras, and she felt Penny’s shift anxiously within.

“I could create a hypothesis, but I’m not really sure myself Miss Nikos.”

Pyrrha let her hand fall back to her side, continuing to try and not fall to her knees again.

“You can just call me Pyrrha, actually I’d prefer it.” Penny’s aura jumped, but then shifted in a pleased fashion.

“Thank you! We didn’t really get properly introduced before our match. I was looking forward to meeting you! I’m Penny Polendina, but you can call me Penny.” How Penny could still be cheerful at a time like this Pyrrha couldn’t be sure. It was nice though. It brought some much needed levity to the dark shadow that was hanging around Pyrrha’s thoughts at the moment.

Taking a moment to gather herself, Pyrrha leaned against a tree, taking a mental breath.

“You said scientists at Atlas can fix you, right?” Pyrrha wasn’t sure what to do about her own state right now, but Penny deserved to get herself back into one piece.

“Correct, my father and the other scientists no doubt saw the broadcast and what happened. They no doubt are already hard at work creating a new construct for me!” Penny said cheerfully, and Pyrrha nodded, resolving at this new goal.

“Alright. I’m going to take you back to Atlas so you can be fixed.” Instinctively she reached to where Penny’s chip was resting at the base of her skull. Penny’s aura shifted a bit around it.  

“Really? That’s very kind of you! Though perhaps you should be focusing on yourself at the moment.”

Pyrrha shook her head. She didn’t matter, she should be dead. For all it mattered, she did die on that tower. It’s not like anyone would recognize her now, she was just a machine. Looking down at one of her metal hands, Pyrrha clenched a fist.

“My father is an expert on aura though! I have little doubt he’ll be able to think of something for you.” Penny chriped, and Pyrrha only nodded, idly pushing herself off the tree.

They should get moving after all, it was a long walk to Atlas.       

                                   

             ****               ****       

 


End file.
